be flexible, if we have a low crowd and a high crowd back-to-back, we need to make sure that we have adequate buses, adequate parking, adequate police protection without overdoing it each day and look at the event as how can we leverage the few months of this temporary sailing event for long-term positive impact to san francisco? how do we pilot the projects and use this to put infrastructure in place that the city has long been contemplating? a few differences from 2012 to 2013, 2013 we were at the north waterfront and now we have two venues, the america's cup village and peers 27-29, where the new cruiseship terminal was built and where the finish line of the races will be, and where

the primary food, beverage and hospitality location will be. we also have a new special events team at the mta, headed by lee, who is many years with the city in both the police department and mta. this consolidates a lot of functions from security to transit planning to all sorts of safety and operational needs, getting in and out of special events like the america's cup, like hardly strictly bluegrass and it's a new way of doing this. so i can share her cell phone number with your staff, so if you have problems or concerns as the events unfold, she can take care of them in realtime and that has been happening already on this event. it's a very helpful new addition. in 2013 we have a much longer period of racing. in 2012, if you recall, in october, a very super peak day with not only the america's cup, but we had fleet week and

the italian heritage parade and the home giant's game and castro street fair all in the same weekend and we don't anticipate near those kind of crowds this time, but we have a sustained effort from july through middle of september. so fewer crowds, less of a logistical problem on one given weekend, but we need to be able to sustain that effort over time and have the staff and resources? we have also been able to put a number of key pieces of infrastructure into place, including the jefferson realm from johns to hyde, where we really made major improvements to the streetscape there and i hope you find those much more pedestrian and disability-friendly in that neighborhood. we're nearing completion of the fort mason marina green path, the bike and pedestrian path, which has not been well-striped and had a lot of obstructions

in the path that have been removed. and it was a source of some of the complaints that we heard last year and there weren't that many, but we heard of bicyclists and wheelchair users and golf carts and pedestrians all interacting in this area in a not very safe way. this is really going to help that by making dedicated lanes in the east and westbound directions and that is nearly complete. the brandon street wharf, a port project, which is going to be a good viewing location for two of the team bases taking the boats out of the water. similarly, the pier 43 promenade is an area where there is going to be -- they have taken down some of the pier and added a new public amenity. we have improved the crosswalk in front of the exploratorium on the embarcadero on green tv an area that was a very arched turn and speed could provide a dangerous path of travel for

those crossing the street the muni erline from the cal train station to fisherman's wharf. this was a pilot project during the event. this is an accessible historic streetcar and the mini platforms, along the embarcadero are often chained off and those chains will come down to access the historic streetcars in the summer and we have changed some of the signal timing and some of the streetcars themselves to make that happen. and also bike sharing, something that we have been talking for a long time. where you can check out a bicycle, like a library book for a half an hour, an hour or a day and return it to a different location and use it to get about town k. we have made some enhancements to the

transit system, the e-line, the finish line that we just discussed. and another one from the marina green area to market street and market to pier 27-29 shuttle to follow the f-line tracks, all accessible muni vehicles and adding the capacity where we need them most between the venues. we have also been working with our regional partners at golden gate transit, adding the number 4 bus service, which goes from the north bay to downtown and services some of our venues. the presidio, who took folk around crissy field, et cetera.

there are three meters spaces that will be for use for paratransit service, once you disembark from paratransit, it will be a smooth path of travel from the pier and all points in the venue. we have been doing site planning with our partners to make sure there is accessible travel between marina green for services and facilities, retail, food and beverage and just viewing. there are bleachers along marina green, which has a portion dedicated to accessibility and for partners

at that site as well as ramps and guardrails as we learned through our last summer of racing. we're doing some piloting of taxi stands and one conversation we're having with the operators of ferry buildings to have a better taxi stand at that location, and allowing easy drop-off in that highly used area. and then looking at other ways to prevent multi-modal conflicts, coordinating our bus lanes with our bike lanes with taxi stands and bus and shuttle locations to avoid conflicts between different modes of travel. pedestrian-bicycle side we have a new way finding system, which indicates distances to each venue from key modal hubs with

times to walk from that location. we're going to pilot a temporary bike corridor along the embarcadero and along the northern terminus of van ness through aquatic park and bike parking, so if you bicycle to events you can leave your bikes much like you do at at&t park for a giant's game and have somebody watch it and secure it. on transportation demand management, we're really trying to get the message out early, the best way to get to and from these events prior to people getting there and we have a series of maps and brochures that are actually due to be delivered today and we'll get that out to your staff, which indicates maps for enhanced transit routes, bike lanes, pedestrian paths. there is a dedicated site on 501 whether you are coming from

caltrain, bart, muni or other modes how to get to those enhanced services to get to the venues . we have been making some clipper improvements and there is a graphic on your screen of the new clipper card with the america's cup catamaran on it. we have developed parking site with the last-mile transit connections and training mta and america's cup event authorities and ambassadors to answer questions. as part of that training we have been doing sensitivity training and the mta is leading that charge, making sure that people are aware of varying needs as they need to cross a street or access a bus or get to any special needs that they

might have. so we're getting close. i look forward to your questions. some of the lessons that we have learned is really to engage our partners in advance, including everyone from local and regional to public and private and this has and a multi-disciplinary and multi-jurisdictional approach and will greatly inform the city's efforts to do other big events such as the america's cup. we have used the environmental review process to inform our transportation studies and are applying them to projects such as the warriors arena on piers 30-32 and some of the other developments south of marketa and we're using pilot projects to test effectiveness. some of the examples include talking about bus rapid transit

along van ness and geary. we're going to put a 47-limited bus in service that will serve that route and give us valuable data for mta, as an approach to bus rapid transit and there are examples of the solutions that we're looking to pilot during this event. we mention the mta's special events team and sustaining the positive legacy of some of these projects. so with that, i just wanted to give you a broad overview of some of the various things we're doing and wanted to see if you had specific questions for me, and if there is anything that i don't have direct knowledge of, i am happy to follow-up with some of the disability staff throughout the city that are working on the operational

details. >> you have to bear with me, i have to remember to turn on the mic. thank you very much. we're going to open it up for council member questions first, and then staff and then we'll go to the public. okay? thank you. so we open it up to the council. skip? >> i have a question. for you mr. van de water and actually i have two. thank you for your presentation. caltrain to the wharf, will it go all along the embarcadero to pier 39 or whatever the last one is? >> yes, it will. so currently there are historic streetcars that go from market to the north or from market to the

south. so this will be the one that will actually combine the two. we have had calls for this from various constituencies for some time now. and this is our chance to pilot it during the events. so mta has been putting into service some of the double-ended historic streetcars that can operate in both directions without a full-loop turnaround. >> now will those be running just during the event, during the america's cup event or will pilot hours be for other parts of the day or other times? >> it's currently scheduled to be piloted during the events. though, you know, as i mentioned with positive legacy, if there is a demand for that type of service, that can justify the expense of putting it into service, that is what we want to test going forward. so if there is a constituency that would look to use that longer term, we would look to meet that demand. >> my other question is with

respect to the bike sharing, bike renting, bike sharing. when you said that people could rent a bike for half an our or an hour or whatever. where will those be located? and will there be bikes that are mechanically altered for people with mobility problems to use the bicycles? mobility challenges -- will there be bicycles available to suit people with disabilities there? that is much better. >> excellent question. the bike-share is being managed by the mta, and there are several hundred bicycles planned for rollout in august of this summer. primarily centered around the financial district, downtown, and we have been encouraging a spur along the embarcadero along the north to accommodate the special events. so my knowledge there aren't mechanically altered bicycles as part of the rollout, but i

am happy to check with the mta to confirm. i know there are different ways to meet bicycle needs and one is bike-share and one is park-wide, which also exists in our park system where you can rent a bike by the hour or the day and others, if people have their own personal bicycle will have self-park, where you come and lock it up in a location that is secure and convenient and others that is bike valet. so if you wanted an attendant service where they take your bike like a coat-check and you take a ticket you can do that as well. as far as specifically mechanical, i would have to follow-up. >> i would appreciate if you would. thank you. >> thank you. i have to apologize, chip, please forgive me, i will get it right. i wanted to ask the question about are there jobs available for people with disabilities? are there jobs available

period? and where do people go and look for that? >> it's an excellent question, the workforce side of our office of office of economic and workforce development is coordinating all entry level employment opportunities from internship with the event authority to food and beverage hospitality, transportation, volunteer ambassador and others physically developing the bleachers and venues and they are hosting a series of job fairs. there are others forthcoming and i would encourage you to check in with ian fernando. >> his number? can you send it to the office?

>> i can send it to carla. >> thank you very much. we would appreciate that. roland. >> thank you. i would like to find out if the website is updated with the maps? because i found them very useful at last summer's america's cup. and where are the accessible pathwaysin the paratransit drop-off? i noticed it wasn't in the presentation, but it's very useful to have that, so people can visually also see where the key points are. >> absolutely, good point, council member wong. the people plan, which i have a copy here, and can show you the cover is currently available on our weekend at oewd.org as well

on the sfmta.com and americascup.com has the link and also i believe the plan is shared with 411. the digital resources should be there for you and if not, take my contact information for copies and they have just been uploaded this past week and i can leave a hard copy with staff. >> thank you. >> staff, is there any questions? >> yes. hi. mr. van de water, thank you so much for your presentation and updates. i just wanted to ask a question. if members of the public knew to contact someone to ask for assistance for a particular policy or accessibility concern that came up, who would they

contact and is that individual apparent in your website materials? for example, in many of our events we say for accessibility questions or concerns please contact so and so at this number and email, do you have something similar in your website or your materials? >> it's a good question. i think there are a number of answers to that question. i received a question from your office about an individual looking to attend one of the concert series. and some special considerations that they would need for getting through the security line there. i directed them to live nation, who is the live vendor operating that venue in the evening and their specific security detail to let them know they were coming and also sent that to our police department. if it's transit-oriented, it would be the mta, who is coordinating not only mta

service and working with our regional partners as well and i would probably send the contact to the director of special events, lee, who has her finger with all of the contacts within mta, whether it's light rail, paratransit, bus, cab, personal vehicle, pedestrian or it's parking control officer question within the site venue. so i will share her information with staff and make sure that all the council have that as well. >> thank you very much. as you can tell, as we can all tell, this is a very multi-agency, complicated, massive event, and you can of course understand the importance of having a single point of contact, who can then help direct the public to the appropriate agency. so thank you very much for that primarily point of contact will be very helpful. >> one good number.

because when we get on the phone, we don't want to call five to six numbers and that event, there are a lot, a lot of people and getting in contact with one person would be awesome. please, one number. do you guys have a coordinator? >> no. >> a person with disability coordinator for the america's cup? >> there is not a designated accessibility coordinator. there are a number of event professionals with specific expertise in ada, who are familiar with all the various guidelines. but there is not a one single ada coordinator. >> maybe next year put that on the agenda. thank you very much. is there any more questions? >> sure. and through the chair, thank you for the opportunity. thank you adam for a very comprehensive overview of the accessible future at the america's cup. we heard a lot of great things about the event last year and i know that some of our council

members attended and got to view those beautiful boats out on the sea. and i just appreciate the willingness on your part to take the lessons learned from last year, and to just make this event so much better, too. so i am very, very appreciative of that. i think we have heard some good suggestions today, too about having a single point of contact and that is a good suggestion and i hope you take that back as well. >> i am happy to share that, thank you, director johnson. this event, we are really striving to make the most accessible international sporting event that the city and the world has ever seen and this is the first time that the america's cup has been visible from shore in it's 162-year history and that in and of itself means that you don't have to have a boat, helicopter or a live data feed to see the event and you can go down to a public site and see this event.

on top of that, we're taking very seriously the various needs that the thousands of spectators we expect who will use this event and making sure we have smooth paths of travel, multi-modal access so everyone has an enjoyable event. last year it was 45' boats and these will be 75' boats and if you haven't seen them, they are 130' to the top of the mast, going 50 miles per hour off the edge of pier. so it will be quite a spectacle and i hope you can join us. >> i was wondering is it going to be televised for people who can't get out of house? how will it be televised? what channels? >> they have a contract with nbc and key dates and comcast bay area will do some of the less peak days and they have a contract with youtube to live

stream the races online. >> is thank you very much. we're going to open up for -- excuse me. council member wong. >> i wanted to ask, what is the best area for disability seating? >> there are two answers to that question. one if you want to be part of the event, but not see the racing directly upfront, would be more at the america's cup park at 27-29, where they have the jumbo-tron and live action and a lot of the foot andfood and beverage and amenities and if i want to see the races, the marina green, there will be bleaches there, many of them tickets and many of them free and many accessible and those will have the view of about 80%

of the course area. >> thank you. >> is there any more questions from the council or staff? seeing -- miss tatiana. we need your mic. thank you. pull it closer. >> will there be people in the area to acknowledge and help people with disabilities? >> yes, absolutely. there will be two teams from mta, the municipal transportation agency is going to be training ambassador along transit modes and making sure people can make their connections and the america's cup authority will have volunteers circulating within their venues. >> would you have anybody that does sign? or something with big lettering so people can see? >> i believe there is plans to

do sign. in the summer events of last year, there were video broadcasts that had both sign language and captioning of those broadcasts. mta is currently working with the event authority and their volunteers to identify these sort of issues and make sure that people have the proper training and background. and this being an international event, there will be people speaking various languages and i imagine there will be some sign language interpreters, though i don't know how many and in what locations. >> thank you. >> thank you. is there any more questions? okay, seeing no more questions, we have time for the public now to ask questions. so please, if you would like to ask questions, you can come to the mic.

anyone from the public? is there anyone on the bridge line? >> no, madame chair. >> okay. seeing that there is no one from the public with any more questions, you guys it is exactly 2:00 and we're going to take a 15-minute break right now. 10-minute break. i'm sorry, a 10-minute break right now, and we will be back. thank you very much. thank you for your presentation.